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Monthly Archives: July 2014

A few years ago when I first came to Germany, I managed to either befriend or to at least become friendly acquaintances with another woman. She was the only person in my German lessons who had an even higher level of education than myself. Another lady was at about the same level.

She was encouraged to or manipulated into founding a women’s group to help try to make friends with some other women. It took a while for about a year and maybe as many as two it worked as a monthly gathering.

When she left the country a few of us agreed to keep it going but I don’t know if it has survived more than a year after she left.

This is my 4th Summer in Germany and I am finally not suprized by the weather.

Recently, I have read online that employers increasingly search the social media to learn more about candidates and how, due to this, people need to be more cautious about what they post. If you think about it, this is a bit like just switching the youth over from being cautious because the Internet is full of strangers to telling people to be careful because of – the attitudes of those who may have the power to pay them could adversely effect them if they are not careful.

How do I feel about this? I have mixed feelings. As a child and young woman I was adjusted to being reserved in most circumstances. During my 30s and 40s I have grown much more likely to relax and be a bit more open and relaxed with people I have not known for many years rather than only opening up to a rare, special person. I don’t feel it was always wrong to be reserved and cautious, but even at a workplace – for me, in a good job fit, I think I would not feel so constrained. To the extent that that is true, I feel that professional presentation and the matter of ordinary personal expression as a private person are not a big concern in a good job fit or where the organizational culture is well suited to me.

So far, I have worked in large companies, medium sized ones and small ones. I tended to feel as if the chief executives were so far removed as to seem like they were mere mythical beings who resided in a kind of fairy land populated by expensive sports cars, suits, with high quality but also very pricey wine and cigars. They weren’t anyone I would ever meet in person.

In stark contrast, in small businesses, I really liked knowing the head of the company directly and personally. In those situations, instead of any kind of “problems with authority”, I tended to just work by helping out someone I liked and respected who knew more about something and was better at getting money from other people than myself. The boss was someone who would help make sure I got financially included, instead of just left out. I was grateful for the protection and the help, because for some reason that is hard for me, even though I have many other skills and am willing to learn and have even more skills.

I have worked for myself sometimes. In some ways I make a good boss, but if you see the problem mentioned in the previous paragraph, I feel like that has been part of the problem as a boss. I feel like if I were better at being my own boss I would be better at making sure I get paid well. If I got paid well, I don’t think I would ever work for someone else’s company as an employee again. There may be a few exceptions, but in general, I would not need someone else to be my boss if I am good enough of a boss to make my company functional enough that I earn a decent living working for the customers.